Blast hits Siberian coal mine, at least two people injured

At least two people were injured when a blast struck a coalmine in Russia's Western Siberia in the early hours of Saturday, a local emergency official said, RIA Novosti reported.

The blast hit the Krasnogorskaya mine in the Kemerovo region's town of Prokopyevsk at about 02:00am Moscow time (22:00 GMT, Friday), the official said. One miner is missing following the blast.

A total of 67 miners were in the mine when the blast occurred, the official said.

The blast was reportedly caused by a methane explosion.

The Kemerovo region's first deputy governor, Valentin Mazikin, has arrived at the scene, a local administration official said.

In May, two methane blasts at the Raspadskaya coalmine, also located in the Kemerovo region, killed 67 workers and left 23 unaccounted for. The accident at the Raspadskaya coal mine is believed to have been caused by poor observation of safety regulations.